1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a device for supplying air to an airplane.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
It is known that in airplanes, after a flight, fresh and climatized air can be blown in, in order to refresh the air in the inner space and to keep the temperature under control. This air is supplied via a hose with a relatively large diameter, which is connected to an intake provided in the body of the airplane by means of a connector.
The fresh air is provided in the hose by means of a device for creating a forced air stream, such as a fan, an air pump or such, which is either or not combined with a cooling and/or heating installation.
The above-mentioned device is hereby usually attached to an access bridge, which as is known is connected to a building at one end and to the body of an airplane with its free end, and which can be placed at the entrance door. From the above-mentioned device, the air can be blown directly in the plane via the above-mentioned hose. Sometimes, a duct is required to transport the air to the side of the airplane where the access bridge is situated. Onto this duct is connected the hose, which hangs down to the ground floor when in use, and which thus can be connected to the plane by the maintenance staff.
In order to prevent the hose, before or after its use, to hinder the airplanes on the one hand and the movement of the access bridge on the other hand, it is known to store said hose when it is not in use.
According to a first known technique for putting away the hose, use is made of a little trailer fixed to the rolling chassis of the access bridge, which contains a container in which the hose can be thrown. A major disadvantage of this system consists in that, when the access bridge is lowered, for example when it must be used for a smaller airplane, i.e. with a lower entrance door, the part of the hose hanging down can end up beside the container, so that, when no attention is paid to it, the hose can end up under the wheels of the access bridge or the trailer, with all the ensuing harmful consequences. Another disadvantage of this technique consists in that the hose is stored in an irregular manner, which may have for a result that it needs to be disentangled.
According to a second known technique for putting away the hose, use is made of a coil-up mechanism consisting of a reel, whereby the hose is connected to the air supply via the winding core of the reel. A disadvantage of this second technique consists in that the air section represents a number of sharp bends to bring the supplied air in the winding core on the one hand, and to bring said air from the winding core into the hose on the other hand, so that large pressure losses are created, which has a bad influence on the good working of the whole.
The present invention aims a device for supplying air to an airplane which excludes the above-mentioned disadvantages.
To this aim, it concerns a device for supplying air to an airplane which at least consists of means for creating a forced air stream and a pipe to supply the forced air stream from the above-mentioned means to an airplane, whereby this pipe contains at least a flexible hose, wherein the device is provided with at least one coil-up mechanism for the above-mentioned hose and/or for an element coupled to the hose, whereby this coil-up mechanism is mainly situated outside the air section of the air supplied through the hose, at least when being unwound.
As use is made of a coil-up mechanism, the disadvantages of the known embodiment, which applies the first-mentioned technique, are excluded or at least minimized, as there is no free-running hose anymore.
As the coil-up mechanism is situated outside the air section, the air passage is entirely independent of the coil-up mechanism, as opposed to in the embodiment according to the above-mentioned second known technique. By xe2x80x98outside the air sectionxe2x80x99 is mainly understood xe2x80x98beside the air section and/or beside the hosexe2x80x99, or in other words, that the air section no longer extends through the coil-up mechanism, the reel respectively, but extends next to it, either or not at a large distance thereof.
Preferably, the hose is coupled to the coil-up mechanism at a distance from its initial end, and/or it can be coupled to the coil-up mechanism at a distance from its initial end, such that the hose is so to say doubled when being rolled up, but can be entirely released from the coil-up mechanism itself when being unwound.
The hose can hereby be coupled to the coil-up mechanism in different places, but this place is preferably situated between the initial end and the output end of the hose.
In a practical embodiment, the hose is coupled to the coil-up mechanism in the middle or almost in the middle between the initial end and the output end. Thus, when being rolled up, the hose is picked up practically in the middle, such that the rolling up over a certain distance results in a double distance of rolled-up hose.
According to a practical embodiment, the device is mounted on an access bridge for airplanes carried by a chassis, whereby this access bridge can be moved between a lowest position and a highest position, and the hose is connected to the coil-up mechanism in such a place that, when it is rolled up, the hose suspends freely above the ground floor for any position whatsoever in which the access bridge can be placed. This excludes that, when being rolled up, a part of the hose would touch the ground floor, which could disturb the good working order of the access bridge. In particular this excludes that the hose can end up under the wheels of the chassis of the access bridge.
According to the most preferred embodiment, the hose is connected to the coil-up mechanism by means of at least one flexible intermediate element, such as a cable, or said hose can be connected to the coil-up mechanism by means of said intermediate element. Thus, the hose can be freely unwound over its entire length, without having to be directly connected to the coil-up mechanism. Also, the hose can be easily rolled up by means of the intermediate element, even when the coil-up mechanism is not within hand reach as of the ground floor.
The coil-up mechanism preferably consists of a reel upon which the hose and/or the flexible auxiliary element can be rolled, whereby this reel is preferably provided with a motorized drive.
According to a variant, the coil-up mechanism consists of at least one winding element which makes it possible to wind up the intermediate element, such that the hose, in the wound-up condition, hangs above the ground floor in the shape of at least one suspended loop. The hose itself does not need to be wound up.
Other characteristics will appear from the accompanying claims.